Who are Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski's co-defendants Scott Allinson and James Hickey?

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James Hickey, left, a business consultant, was charged this week with wire fraud, mail fraud and conspiracy. Scott Allinson, right, an attorney with Norris McLaughlin & Marcus, was charged with bribery and conspiracy.

James Hickey, left, a business consultant, was charged this week with wire fraud, mail fraud and conspiracy. Scott Allinson, right, an attorney with Norris McLaughlin & Marcus, was charged with bribery and conspiracy. (SUBMITTED)

Charged with him were James Hickey, a Lehigh Valley business consultant, and Scott Allinson, an Allentown attorney.

As mayor of nearly 12 years, Pawlowski is well-known to city residents. But Hickey and Allinson operated behind the scenes within the political realm.

So who are Allinson and Hickey?

Scott Allinson

Allinson is a member of Norris McLaughlin Marcus PA, a firm with offices in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York that absorbed the former Tallman, Hudders & Sorrentino firm in 2009. Allinson’s practice is concentrated in economic development, business and construction law, according to the firm’s website. He has done campaign work for Pawlowski, former Lehigh Valley political consultant Mike Fleck, Lehigh County Executive Tom Muller and others.

Allinson was indicted Tuesday on charges of bribery and conspiracy for his role in an alleged scheme to get work for his law firm in exchange for campaign donations, according to the federal indictment. Allinson made his first appearance in court Thursday.

In January 2015, Fleck told Pawlowski he was going to “beat the s---” out of Allinson, meaning he would pressure him to contribute, the indictment says. Allinson contributed $250 to Friends of Ed Pawlowski, the indictment notes.

A month later, Allinson allegedly told Fleck he would make it clear to others in his firm that they needed to “cobble some money together” for Pawlowski’s campaign. It “isn’t like we are being hired because we are good guys,” the indictment quotes Allinson as saying.

City records released to The Morning Call in response to right-to-know requests show that Norris McLaughlin earned $1.73 million from the city over a 10-year span the investigation sought records on. That work was performed directly for the city and also for the Allentown Neighborhood Improvement Zone Development Authority as it built the PPL Center arena.

Campaign finance records show that multiple attorneys from the firm donated to Pawlowski campaigns throughout his political career, and those donations more than doubled after the alleged exchange between Allinson and Fleck in February 2015. The mayor also has run for U.S. Senate and governor.

From 2005 to 2014, Norris McLaughlin attorneys contributed $10,300 to Pawlowski’s campaign fund. Allinson gave $2,000 of that amount. Oldrich Foucek III, another attorney and also chairman of the Allentown Planning Commission and a member of the ANIZDA board, gave $7,400 during that span, campaign finance records show. Foucek has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

In addition to the public legal work given Norris McLaughlin, Fleck also used the firm. In 2013, Fleck tapped Allinson to file legal papers registering inaugural funds for Pawlowski and Muller. Pawlowski’s inaugural fund was registered with the state as a 501(c)(3) charitable group, while Muller’s was set up as a for-profit entity. Both were used to fund inaugural parties for the two candidates and also paid bonuses to Fleck.

They were set up in a way that did not require public disclosure of donors.

James Hickey

Hickey was charged in the indictment that includes Pawlowski and Allinson with 12 counts for allegedly conspiring to award an Allentown streetlight contract to a Pawlowski donor who was also Hickey’s client. Hickey is expected to appear in federal court next week.

One of the Lehigh Valley’s most colorful political operatives, Hickey is the sole proprietor of Sovereign Enterprise, a business development consulting service. Sovereign Enterprise was a frequent donor to Pawlowski’s political campaigns. Between 2011 and 2014, the company give nearly $6,000 to the mayor’s campaigns for local office and for his gubernatorial run.

Sovereign Enterprises was a consultant for The Efficiency Network, a company slated to receive a $3 million contract from Allentown to upgrade the city’s streetlights. Allentown officials scrapped the deal in the wake of the federal probe, revealed in 2015 by an FBI raid of Allentown City Hall.

Since then, the contract has been at the center of several guilty pleas in the case. Francis Dougherty, Allentown’s former managing director, pleaded guilty for his role in steering the contract to TEN.

In court documents, Dougherty admitted to accepting a thumb drive that contained contract bidding language favorable to TEN. Dougherty then passed that drive to the city’s public works department to be included in a request for proposals, court documents state.

When city employees refused to use the preferred language, Dougherty threatened to fire the employee who was responsible, court documents state.

In the indictment out this week, Hickey is accused of writing favorable bidding language and passing the thumb drive to Dougherty.

A former Navy officer and Allentown attorney, Hickey made a name for himself after being appointed director of administration for former Northampton County Executive Glenn Reibman. As Reibman’s right-hand man, he not only shepherded a controversial $111 million bond issue and helped run a $300 million annual county operation, but also helped Reibman get re-elected in 2001.

Along the way, he became one of the county’s most vocal figures — often even more vocal than Reibman — while engaging in a nearly six-year battle with former Republican County Councilman Ron Angle over county issues.

In 2003, Hickey left his county post to follow former Bethlehem Mayor Don Cunningham to Harrisburg. After Cunningham was appointed state secretary of General Services by then-Gov. Ed Rendell, he made Hickey his director of real estate.

In 2013, Hickey helped run then-Bethlehem Mayor John Callahan’s stunning loss to John Brown in the race for Northampton County executive.

Staff writer Matt Assad contributed to this story.

Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski, accompanied by wife Lisa and attorney Jack McMahon, makes his first appearance in federal court Thursday, July 27, 2017, after being charged in an alleged pay-to-play scheme.

Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski, accompanied by wife Lisa and attorney Jack McMahon, makes his first appearance in federal court Thursday, July 27, 2017, after being charged in an alleged pay-to-play scheme.